Sunday, July 28, 2013

I love a good ultra-simple retro-styled novelty tune a whole lot more than the next guy, so without further hyperbole or any (more) sugar-coating, I present you Brooklyn's Recordettes and their song, "John Waters (Be My Father)".

Saturday, July 27, 2013

The Eversons are a band from Auckland, New Zealand who's new single "Creepy" has a nice Frank Turner-meets-Masked Intruder vibe but done in a more charming eighties indie-pop style. Check out the video and you may find yourself singing along...

Friday, July 26, 2013

Okay Strummer-ians, check out these new (well...new to me, anyway) YouTube uploads of some of Strummer's late 80's dealings with MTV. First, courtesy of Nada/Pop Pd., comes an interview with Joe circa the "Permanent Record" soundtrack (Skip to the 4:00 mark):

Next, while we're here, let's check out this video for the vastly underrated song, "Trash City" which gets cut out of the above clip:

Finally, here's the man doing self-effacing pitches for his work in Jim Jarmusch's film "Down By Law" and his 1989 LP "Earthquake Weather".

After yesterday's cool addition to the Graham Parker videography (see HERE), I thought I'd add an even rarer find (originally authored by one, harryc in 2007) of a televised performance on ITV by GP and the Half-Rumour in 1988.

Thursday, July 25, 2013

Yeah sometimes we can seem like a bit like an adjunct of the Graham Parker Empire here at MRML but we're alright with that, especially when we come across treasures like this. What this is, is a re-broadcast of a crackling performance by Graham Parker & The Rumour on 1977-03-17 done for the BBC Sight & Sounds program. Enjoy!

Wednesday, July 24, 2013

This is worth it. "When Albums Ruled the World" is almost an hour and a half in length (like a good double LP) on the rise of the long-playing record. The movie does have to slog through the obligatory Rock Doc cliches ("The sixties, man...") but, slowly, through intense focus on the artists, some predictable, some less so, it builds a fascinating thesis on how the LP became so central to not only rock n' roll but folk, prog, glam, jazz, soul, funk and punk. Along the way some people I might disdain (Richard Branson, Mike Oldfield, Noel Gallagher) get in some great lines and some people make a great case for getting their own documentary - i.e. Nile Rodgers!

Wednesday, July 17, 2013

If you checked out the reggae-punk attack of England's The Internationalists on the 'Not Just Mandela' compilation (see HERE), then you will be happy as a ребенок on May Day to find out that they put out a little-known LP back in 1986. It bristles with a kind of righteous political fury that would become extinct in a matter of a few years. While pretty orthodox lyrically, thanks to inventive guitarist Richard Hogarth (who's played with The Gangsters, John Otway, Attila the Stockbroker and Eddie & the Hot Rods) the music hews to no party line. Sandinista!-era Clash, with a lot more wind instruments and a whole lot less farting around, would be a good point of reference.

"The Internationalists are a very young band firmly rooted in two traditions: that of a polemical music as old as socialism and that of the use of genuinely popular forms to express experiences of oppression, which is as old as folk music. In both respects they fall easily into the Matchless catalogue.

The primary thrust of their music derives from reggae, the quintessential late twentieth century form for the articulation of oppression and the articulation of solutions and calls to action. In the political use of what is rapidly becoming a universal form they have drawn on Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer, Misty, Aswad, The Zephaniah Band and U.B.40. Drawn on, but not imitated, for, although their instrumentation and musical phrasing echo the best of The Wailers at times and approach the rich textures of U.B.40 at others, the vocal delivery is uniquely post-Punk in anger, accent and attack. It is the voice of de-industrialized unemployed youth raised both against the conditions created by, and for, a realigning capitalism and in support of third world liberation movements fighting to establish alternatives. In this respect these Harlow based "leidermacher" stand alongside Dammers, Weller and Bragg.

The naked unambiguity of their position strikes many an historical resonance. Three examples: the didacticism of Brecht ("Tighten Up" might well have been dedicated to 'The Active Discontented' of our own time), the anthem making of Florence Rees ("Solidarity" and her 'Which Side Are You On?' share an underscoring of the need to continually affirm intra-class alliances) and the anger of the Sixties protest movements (Phil Ochs would have recognized the disgust animating "Kicking On the Wrong Door!").

Unlike many in the latter category however (locked into and finally lost on the college-based folk circuit as they were), The Internationalists have approached and won a wide and growing audience at the sharp end of created disadvantage which recognizes its own experience in their politics and music.

As you will hear, reggae is not the only form that these young musicians have adopted and adapted to the cause of distributive justice. The rock tracks included here carry the politics with equal facility as well as bearing witness to the skills and versatility of this committed young band which, in achieving a strong beginning, promises much for the future."

Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Compilation albums in the eighties, especially underground ones that were done for the benefit of some greater cause, often wore their musical schizophrenia as a badge of honour. (We've posted more such comp's HERE)

God Save Us From the USA, a British 1987 benefit L.P. for Nicaraguan Solidarity Campaign gives you anarcho-pop-punk from Zounds, spoken word pieces from Nic Toczek, reggae-punk from Culture Shock, socialist-pop from The Neurotics, Welsh-language pop-punk from Anhrefn, weird-core from Karma Sutra, skronk-rock from Some Weird Sin, post-noise from The Apostles, grindcore from Heresy, pop-punk from Dan and novelty-folk from Attila the Stockbroker.

Unlike other compilations of the eighties, say, Punk and Disorderly, We Won't Be Your Fucking Poor or even Underground Rockers, this compilation shows a UK punk scene in transformation. If, back in 1987, you listened to punk but were indifferent to speed-metal, you not only knew a lot of these bands but you also probably wanted to know why they left off The Joyce McKinney Experience.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Thanks to BarrieB for donating this rip and scan which this re-up is built around.

Not Just Mandela is a 1986 anti-apartheid benefit L.P. on Davy's Lamp Records that features a rip-roarin' rarity called "Africa" by a Billy Bragg/Neurotics alliance as well as some good hard-to-find tracks by The Housemartins, The Internationalists and Attila The Stockbroker.It's another in a line of politically-inspired British compilations of the eighties we've discussed HERE and HERE.

Friday, July 12, 2013

Another eighties manifesto from the British musical left, this time in support of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament. With just The Mekons crossing-over from Dig: A Tribute to the Great Strike (see HERE), this album shows the depth of talent that was willing to stand up to the British state under Thatcher.

Let us know what you think of this defiant document in the COMMENTS section!

Tuesday, July 9, 2013

While the death of British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher earlier this year elicited a flurry of angry words, it also caused a lot of singing. There was even a brief chart war between "Ding Dong the Witch is Dead" from The Wizard of Oz and The Not Sensibles "I'm in Love With Margaret Thatcher" (with the level of musical animosity aimed at Maggie, apparently her proponents felt a humorously anti-Thatcher song would be their best shot at a rallying cry!) As for the radio in my head, it put The English Beat's "Stand Down Margaret" on heavy rotation. In the end, it's conceivable that the wealth of musical agitprop that the Iron Lady inspired may be her greatest legacy. Dig This: A Tribute to the Great Strike (Forward Sounds International) was a benefit album to support the Miners Solidarity Fund during the bitter miners' strike of 1984-1985. The album (good piece on it here) features a head-spinning stylistic variety; the driving folk-punk of The Men They Couldn't Hang, the twisted art-country of the Mekons, the loping reggae-punk of Omega Tribe, the frightening anglo-synth rap of Akimbo, the accusatory goth-rock of Leningrad Sandwich, the fierce noise-punk of The Ex, the anarcho-weirdness of The Posion Girls, the hard-to-classify Steve Lake and, of course, the only band on earth who can be described as both Crass' heirs and one-hit wonders, Chumabawamaba.

Friday, July 5, 2013

Canadian new wave conscript Brian Plummer's follow-up to to his simmering debut No Questions (see HERE) was the rock-steady-as-she-goes I'm As Guilty As You Are (1981).

Sound-wise, Plummer sticks to the reggafied new-wave pop-rock that defined his first album. While the debut's AOR-ish flourishes get less play here, no one's ever gonna mistake this for Damned, Damned, Damned. Visually, this time out the art director plays down the bearded-singer-songwriter angle with a plethora of vertical red lines.

Sefel Records (SEF 1002) LP, Canada, 1981

Tracklist
A1 The Fire-Eater
A2 (At The End Of) The Monkey Line
A3 Paper Star
A4 Lisa
A5 Caviar Or Ginseng
B1 I'm As Guilty As You
B2 Space Instead Of Lines
B3 The King Of The Jungle
B4 Such A Fuss
B5 Steady Rain

Hey, MRML thanks for giving the first BP album a listen, let us know what you think of the second one in the COMMENTS section!

Monday, July 1, 2013

This may be someone's templebut it sure as Hell ain't mine
Brian Plummer, 1980

Curse the art director on the late Brian Plummer's No Questions for packaging the initial version of his debut as if it was a self-released album by some morose Canadian Christian folkie. Granted, Plummer is Canadian (from Saskatoon, no less) but other than that what you've got is a hooky-but-pissed-off North American New Wave/Rock album. His fellow late-seventies Canuck rockers like Doug and the Slugs and Phillip Rambow would sympathize as would his American counterparts like John Hiatt and Tonio K and, lest we forget, those Angry Young Englishman like Graham Parker and Elvis Costello.

Like so many North Americans, who could relate to the anger of punk but lacked the disdain of pop's status quo, Plummer sometimes aimed to the lighter AOR sound (check out that slick guitar solo in "Killing Time" or the sax break on "The Wizards Have Come"). That said, No Questions stays out of Eddie Money or Billy Joel territory, though the incursions into the Springsteen-land on tracks like "Full Moon on the Midway" are hard to miss. Both "Money Talks" and "Jacky Boy" were mid-level hits because Plummer had the good luck to be talented and unknown during a time the hopelessly staid Canadian radio industry was desperate for young(ish) musicians willing to play louder and meaner but still accept a lot of the old rules. The result, to these old Canadian ears, is a stinging record that while clearly a product of its times has kept its edge. I've kept returning to this album and keep finding little touches that remind me that good things can come in unsightly packages.

A1 Money Talks
A2 No Questions
A3 Jacky Boy
A4 The Wizards Have Come
A5 Roll Away The Stone
B1 Full Moon On The Midway
B2 Killing Time
B3 Hole In The Wall
B4 Change The World (If You Want)
B5 Losing Touch

Hey, MRML readers, if you haven't already, give this album a little chance and let us know what you think in the COMMENTS section!

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